I had my car towed to the shop to get it fixed this morning. I got it fixed and everything was peachy. Except for the fact that it cost like $250+ but that's another story. But anyway, I drove it around town a bit to make sure everything was working properly and everything was dandy once again. I was in a happy state of mind.. kinda. I went and home and hung out at the house with the family before I came back to school. I also wanted to miss rush hour traffic in Charlotte so I stayed a while longer and ate with the family then headed back to school in the rain.
Everything was going great until I hit the Salisbury area. I stopped to get an energy boost and then put $15 that my parents gave me in my car. Well, this is where the fun begins. I pulled up to the gas station and ambulance is sitting in the middle of the road with its lights on so I figured there was an accident and said "Thank goodness I stayed home the extra twenty minutes or else that could have been me." I got the gas and drink and started down the road. I get like thirty seconds from the gas station when my stupid battery light comes on again... same problem I just spent $250+ on. And to make things better, I was in a traffic jam on the interstate going a grand total of 15 miles an hour! I think I was going to fast.
So I began thinking, "well I know my car is going to break down any time now how long is it going to last. It wont make it home, and it wont make it to school." So I make it down to exit 39 before my gauges flip out on me. So I pull off the road and start driving for the next off ramp... by this point my car has shut off and I am literally drifting. I hit those stupid bumps on the shoulder and my car WIGS out. ALL the lights come on. It seemed like a fire cracker went of in there it was SO bright, but I now had power and make it up the ramp where my car dies yet again. So now I am drifting to the gas station just down the road and I park it.
Needless to say, I was not a very nice person to be around at that point, at least until I got to the gas station. I called my Dad and told him the situation and we began talking through situations. But the neat thing is exit 39 is the exit my Dad has to come to when he has to get parts for work. Hmmm. Coincidence? I think not. After I got to the gas station, something hit me, and it wasn't what I had expected.
I was grateful. I still had a place to stay warm. I still had a place to stay dry. I still had a place to get food and drinks if I wanted them. James 1:2-4 popped into my mind, and so did Job. If we look at Job's situation, he had everything he needed and more, and so did I.
Job went through losing EVERYTHING he had, and remained faithful to the One he served. Now I have not even come close to losing everything, but I think the situation is similar. Job questioned God and so did I. I have asked why, and how more time than I can count in the last 3 weeks. The neat thing about the whole thing is that through Job's faith, the Lord blessed him ten fold. Quite frankly, I hope the Lord doesn't bless me ten fold. That is to many cars to have to replace alternators on ever 24 hours. But in the end, Job came out stronger, wiser, and more complete, than he was before all of the trials began.
James 1:2-4 says,
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let that endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. (NRSV)Job displayed this verse in an exemplary way. And I have been humbled by the fact that I am not in control of the things that go down. They happen for a reason; that reason is to build us up. To make us mature and complete, lacking in nothing. And I do not think I have been happier to have car problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment